PremiumMUMBAI : Citi Group on Wednesday pledged an additional Rs200 crore ($27 million) over the next three financial years for recovery and relief efforts in India against the surge in covid-19 cases. The funds will also be utilized for food and hygiene supplies to low-income families.
Of the total pledged amount, Rs75 crore ($10 million) is towards the procurement of oxygen supplies, adding beds to hospitals, diagnostic testing systems, personal protection kits and other supplies for front line healthcare workers.
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Premium Premium “We have been in India for more than 100 years, and the country is home to over 20,000 of our colleagues. We are determined to support India through this unprecedented health crisis," said Peter Babej, Asia-Pacific chief executive officer of Citi. “Our efforts in India are an important part of our global commitment to fight the pandemic, and we have focused on assisting communities around the world, including through financial support of $100 million from Citi and the Citi Foundation" he added.
Recently, the group facilitated 115,076 RT-PCR tests across 17 municipal corporations and nine districts in Maharashtra, covering 24 covid-19 hospitals/centres along with 850 tonnes of ration supplies to 26,200 families across 20 locations nationally by over 1,000 trucks, enabling 7.8 million meals over a one-month period and funded six startups incubated at the society for development and innovation, at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, to mitigate the spread of the pandemic and are at various stages of patent acquisitions and ICMR approvals.
The institution said its employees participated in programmes to provide masks and sanitizers for over 450 children at St Jude, and daily meals for 1 million migrant workers through Akshaya Patra, while its debit and credit card holders, along with employees, also participated to help raise Rs2.25 crore ($300,000) towards PM-Cares Fund.
The additional pledged amount will be used to fund public and private healthcare infrastructure and to impart employable skills to the youth, thereby promoting economic revival, wimportant for India’s recovery.
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